Super Monday Night Combat

Super Monday Night Combat Overview

Super Monday Night Combat is a third person MOBA that puts players in the role of gladiators/fighters in a futuristic televised combat game, in which the objective is to destroy the other team’s moneyball. It takes inspiration from many games and genres, from DOTA, Team Fortress 2, to tower defense, and mashes those genres together in a humoristic cocktail that will have you laughing as you gun down your opponent. The variety of characters and classes leads to different play styles and team roles that are all as important in the making of a balanced, victorious team. Each character progresses through matches by improving their abilities, recruiting new minions and buying power-ups. Once the match ends, you’re left with some coins to purchase products & endorsements, or you can always save up for a new character. The classes are;

Commandos – This high difficulty, high reward close range class has you surging through enemy lines with movement powers in order to dispatch specific foes with melee abilities. Warning; about as solid as wet tissue!

Strikers – Generalists with a leaning towards ranged combat, but the ability to play many roles well. Essential for a team, they fill the gaps that specialists cannot fill.

Enforcers – Strong, tanky pros with some solid damage and utility abilities. These are the characters you want to initiate, and take the brunt of enemy punishment.

Defenders – Support and defense specialists, efficient at holding positions, buffing their team mates, and keeping them healed. Absolutely necessary; they are the glue that binds the team.

Sniper – Long-range damage dealers meant to support other classes with accurate fire support. Player skill makes or breaks this class.

Super Monday Night Combat Screenshots

Super Monday Night Combat Featured Video

Full Review

Super Monday Night Combat Full Review

Super Monday Night Combat is back, a definite upgrade from the Xbox Live’s Monday Night Combat, this time in free-to-play flavor, and with a whole lot more content (though perhaps still not quite enough). If you pick your game by style or flair, then folks, let me tell you this is one you will not want to miss. It includes a meager, but interesting cast of characters, some solid potential for team play oriented action, and enough challenge to go around. It’s also very closely inspired from Team Fortress 2, while also picking from other genres such as MOBAs and tower defenses, mixing various elements into an entertaining mix that blurs the lines of different genres. That being said, does Super Monday Night Combat hit the gold mine with this new mish-mash of a gameplay, or does it fall flat?

Potassium!

Well, for a starter, it hasn’t been said enough how bloody hilarious this game is; this is exactly the kind of flair that attracts and “Wows” new players, but that’s not exactly so important for the long term appeal, though more on that later. Graphics are definitely one of this game’s strong points, and the rocking soundtrack isn’t bad either, complementing well the characters/maps. When you start up the game, you’ll most likely not be entirely sure what to expect, after all this isn’t exactly a straightforward FPS. Well, unfortunately, there’s not much interaction in the tutorials as they are actually written guides complemented by YouTube videos. Is that a bad thing? Well, while this makes the size of the game smaller, it seems a bit lacking as far as tutorials go, though there is thankfully a training mode you should most definitely try before playing a real game. Once that’s done, you should nonetheless still have an acceptable understanding of game mechanics, enough to get you started in your first game.

Giant Robot Chickens

So how does it all work? Similarly to other MOBA’s, you get on a localized matchmaking queue, get matched up, pick a character, and there you go. Games are fairly straightforward; two teams are fighting to take each other’s moneyball down, and to do so, you must push towards it with the help of friendly “bots”, weaker minions that are released constantly, wave after wave. You will have to take down enemy defenses and pros in order to do so, with the help of a variety of bonuses and super minions you can yourself purchase. The action itself is smooth, the performance is generally good, and winning a game feels very rewarding. Throughout every match, you progress in levels through kills, gaining points you can either put in one of your character’s 3 spells, or his offense/defense stats. Matches are filled with bonuses you can grab, ranging from bacon to neutral “creeps” you can take attack for gold/experience, notably Chickey Cantor, a giant robot chicken with its very own soundtrack (YouTube it, it’s hilarious). The main issue on this level doesn’t actually come from the gameplay; it’s simply that leavers are absolutely rampant. There has seldom been a match during the reviewing of this game where there has not been someone absent from one of the two teams.

Cool Guys + Explosions

The character designs are excellent, ranging from floating inventors to a gangster gorilla (complete with Thompson machinegun), and each has a complete set of voice acting, some fairly intricate taunts, and a complete set of role-oriented abilities, dividing characters between damage dealers, tanks, support, long-range damage, and sometimes a few wild mixes thrown in. This leads to a very firmly team oriented gameplay, and lone wolves will often suffer, and make their team suffer in turn. Characters in SMNC are on a rotation, which means that you’ll get access to a different number of them every week unless you’ve bought them from the money store, and that you’re very likely to see the same characters over and over again. Thankfully, most of them are a blast to play with, and each has a solid variety of spells or supportive abilities to throw around. They can also all be customized in a variety of ways, for one with endorsements, a sort of items that give you a bonus while, while giving you a disadvantage for the sake of balance. The other way is products, that are basically special effects you can add to your arsenal, with an example being a bomb being dropped upon your death, or a speed boost upon spawning. Both of these types can be purchased with money won in-game, with real money from the cash store, or can be randomly won after a match. You can also add taunts and change the skins of your character or weapon, if the entire experience just isn’t crazy and bubbly enough for you.

Bacon Galore

Most of the humor found here is not only contributed in great part by the two announcers, constantly cracking jokes as the match goes, but also by the very iconic character cast. You’ll often hear other “pros” yelling out one-liners, and added to the already crowded background, this makes the entire experience very flashy, intense and bright. In fact, playing Super Monday Night Combat often feels like one big sugar rush and it’s undeniably very hectic fun. Like a sugar rush however, it can be a short experience as there are currently few characters and maps to enjoy, which definitely blocks what could be a much more fulfilling, prolonged experience. The issue is compounded by the fact that the money store is not at all cheap, and that it takes a LOT of in-game points to purchase a single character. The announcers, while funny, will end up sounding very familiar with time; there’s only so fun that can be obtained from repeated humor. As mentioned previously, the money store is not cheap, and taunts can cost upwards of 6$ a piece. The only thing that can be bought with in-game combat credits are endorsements, products and characters, if you want anything more, you’ll need to dish out some serious money.

Final Verdict: Great

Super Monday Night Combat is a rewarding strike out in a new direction, bringing humor and third-person action to MOBAs, while keeping intact the tactical play known to the genre. While it lacks a certain amount of content, the foundations are there for an excellent and competitive game with a hefty dose of humor, including such pop culture favorites as bacon, chicken robots and rocket launcher-wielding teenage girls. If you enjoy shooters/RPGs, and can stand the occasional leaver, you’d be shooting yourself in the foot by missing this gem. Well, what are you waiting for? Go get it while it’s hot!